Inside Music (Dec 12th, 2019)

1. More details are slowly emerging about how TikTok's parent company, Bytedance, is planning to enter the music streaming business. The Chinese startup has begun testing an app named Resso in India and Indonesia with the goal of figuring out how to bring wide-spread adoption of paid streaming music subscriptions to lower-income regions of the world. Resso includes features like real-time lyrics, user comments on songs, and the ability to generate videos and GIFs with music, similar to TikTok. — BLOOMBERG

"I've only been listening to Christmas music, so I recommend this classic that will put you in the holiday mood in under 10 seconds. Plus, Mariah’s voice never gets old."

Speaking of Mariah Carey, there's a fun mashup of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and Radiohead's "Creep" that has been making the rounds. The track is this weird hybrid creature made up of somber undertones but still rings with plenty of cheery bells. This new mashup song is a disaster, but you still just want to keep sharing it nevertheless. — UNDER THE RADAR

3. Splash is a newly-released AI music-making app aimed squarely at teenagers. While artificial intelligence has been making its way to the music space for years now, it's mostly been targeted at developers or positioned as a listening solution such as Endel. Splash is taking a different approach by giving people the AI tools to create music, in ready-made app form. Download it, try it, and wait for this (or something like it) to explode in the next 18 months as kids get acquainted. — MUSIC ALLY

4. Spotify will soon be getting the Netflix treatment. The "Spotify Untold" book by Jonas Leijonhufvud and Sven Carlsson, which details how the streaming service was born, is being turned into a scripted limited series for Netflix. The series will be produced by Berna Levin, who has produced The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, among other movies and shows. Spotify origin content was bound to pop up at some point in a race to match the Facebook movie by Aaron Sorkin and the series about Snapchat at Quibi. — COMINGSOON.NET

5. Everyone will be able to judge Harry Style's second album, "Fine Line," starting Friday, but until then, you can read reviews about it. Rolling Stone says it's a "streamlined, party-ready, primary-colors take on the enduring concept of the rock & roll starman," while USA Today calls the album "a confident and refreshing late arrival in a mostly forgettable year for pop music." Most early reviews of the album are positive and upbeat about the artist's sophomore release, but fans will no doubt have their own opinions known soon enough. — ROLLING STONE

6. This week's need-to-know band is Yumi Zouma. The low-key pop-rock band has a tendency to incorporate danceable grooves into their songs under a genre they call "Dream-pop." The melodies are subtle, but addictive and will have your foot tapping halfway through a song. After putting out a few albums over recent years and a self-released EP in 2019, Yumi Zouma have signed to Polyvinyl Records and released the new track, "Right Track/Wrong Man." — THE FADER

7. Ariana Grande is releasing her first-ever live album soon. Grande announced the ability to pre-save the upcoming album on Spotify from her Instagram account but didn't provide an exact release date for the Sweetener Tour Live album. Beyond the tracklisting, which confirmed 29 tracks from a range of from her discography, details are scarce at the moment. — CHORUS.FM

8. The list of 2020 music releases already includes names like Run The Jewels, J. Cole, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez, but don't forget to add Drake's name to that list. At DaBaby's Toronto show Drake made a surprise appearance, saying, "I'mma go back to the crib and try to finish this album up so we can turn up in 2020." There are no guarantees in the music industry, of course, but it sounds promising that we'll get new Drake in the next 12 months. — COMPLEX

9. Jeff Buckley's electric guitar was just used to play "Hallelujah" for the first time since the singer's death. Myles Kennedy, lead singer for Alter Bridge, borrowed Buckley's 1983 Fender Telecaster and covered "Hallelujah" at L’Olympia in Paris — the same venue Buckley performed that famous Leonard Cohen song on his live album, Live À L’Olympia. The video is goosebumps-inducing. —LOUDWIRE

10. The three major record labels collectively are close to achieving $1 million an hour in streaming revenue based on 2019 financial records. The number currently sits at $22.9 million a day in streaming revenue but could go up in the short term. Also included in the MBW report in the longer-term view in which a deceleration of streaming revenue could happen unless they can quickly tap into emerging markets. These financials help shed light on why Bytedance is targeting unsaturated markets with its Resso service. — MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE

Tyler Hayes is a writer and early adopter in both music and technology. He's based in California and has contributed to Fast Company, BuzzFeed, and Billboard, among others. You can reach out at @TylerH.